(Closed) Which of my vendors should I tip?

1) DJ- I already plan to tip him. Any suggestions on how much? He has been amazing! He has helped with multiple aspects of my planning, even found me a videographer and gave us a LARGE discount (he is a friend of a friend). He charged us $600 for 9 hours.

2) Photographer- he owns his own business, will have 1 assistant with him.

Jw1724: as far as i understand the ‘rules’ of tipping you don’t tip vendors who own their own business – but really, tipping is never mandatory and it’s based on service, if you think they deserve a tip then tip them.

My instinct is to only tip employees on an hourly wage, like wait staff or a coordinator that’s provided by the venue. I don’t see the point of tipping business owners, because it’s their job to go above and beyond. That doesn’t really make much sense to me….

MsGinkgo: Thank you for the input! I was under the same understanding as far as business owners. Do you know standard tipping? 20% seems like a lot for an optional tip… like if I choose to tip the photog etc. Hmmm…

charlie486:Jw1724: because you are receiving a service. therefore, you tip. i don’t agree with the whole “they own the business” rule. because it’s silly. they’re providing you with a service, they’re spending a lot of time and effort to make your day go smoothly. if they do a good job, you tip them. simple as that.

colorofmyheart: But you’re already paying them for the service. To me, that’s like tipping the owner at a Starbucks because I went to Starbucks. I’m willing to tip the barista who works there (and makes less) , but not the owner just because I received service from their store.

colorofmyheart: But say you paid $3000 for photography services. That entire sum goes right into the photographer’s pocket. They aren’t sharing it with anyone. Why would you tip for service that you’re already paying for?

I would also add that my family owns a small hospitality business and we refuse tips. It would be embarressing for us to accept any. We just say “Thank you so much, but we’re owners so we can’t accept that” and our clients completely understand that. However, we appreciate it when our employees are tipped.

Jw1724:charlie486: i was raised to tip. that’s how i feel- if someone provides a good service to you, you tip them. it’s not how everyone feels, i’m aware of this. however, i will be tipping all of my vendors.